Their influence created a formidable barrier to a peace process that, while increasingly unavoidable, continued to face obstacles to its realisation. Baku viewed Washington’s approach to the South Caucasus as increasingly one-sided and insufficiently attentive to the region’s new realities. So, the initialling of the peace agreement in Washington on 8 August 2025 became not an isolated diplomatic event. Moreover, it should be recalled that the five principles forming the basis of the peace agreement were proposed by Azerbaijan. Only two years after Azerbaijan’s 2023 operation, the two sides initialled a peace agreement in Washington.